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Lords HS2 Committee report due out on Thursday

The House of Lords HS2 bill select committee will be publishing their report on Thursday, with their website saying that

The Committee will meet at 10am in public in Committee Room 4. The Chairman will announce the publication of the report and make a few, brief concluding remarks. The Committee will adjourn very shortly thereafter and the report will be made available on the Committee’s website.

The report’s publication is one of the last steps in the Parliamentary process for the Phase 1 Bill, with the third reading debate due in early January, and after that Royal Assent.

Although the ‘Salisbury Convention’ says the Lords does not vote down legislation from the Government’s manifesto, members of the House of Lords are getting less compliant, as can be seen with the legislation about tax credits in October 2015. But even with the convention, they can submit amendments, and at the very least it is a chance to set down on record in Hansard about the problems with HS2.

If you are on Phase 2, what happens with Phase 1 really matters to you.

Firstly, what happens on Phase 1 will set a precedent for Phase 2, and other infrastructure projects.

More importantly, if Phase 1 is cancelled, for whatever reason, Phase 2 will not go ahead.

We will be letting you know what you can do to help later on (we need to see the report first!), so please make sure you are on our mailing list.

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Contractors line up to exhaust UK debt borrowing levels as confidence in UK Government slumps. HS2 a programme with no contribution to national earnings only to escalating losses.

PM May has not got the commitment to apply Cameron’s call for mid course correction. First Blair, then Cameron now May ruled by not very special advisors who have lost sight of the national interests for media hype.

I have just been listening to the sickophantic (mispelling deliberate) from Lord W. singing Mould’s praises overlooking conveniently the huge sums being trousered by the QCs concerned. The creepy comments from Mould singing the praises of the Committee, ignored the frequently appalling treatment of petitioners who I would suggest were not treated fairly or with the respect to which they are entitled, rather they were hassled, told to hurry up, and sometimes “told” that they had finished. Not a good reflection on the process, which has been flawed throughout. Do we now assume that Mould & Strachan will be offered knighthoods to follow McLoughlin?

Hear hear John. We weren’t allowed to complete our presentation by a very tetchy and insulting Chair who wanted to have his lunch. The SC had no idea about our area or the problems we faced (which suited Counsel and the promoter) and were not in the least bit interested in finding out. So much for the HoL avowal to restore the public’s faith in Parliament by conducting a far superior selelect committee than that of the HoC.

Don’t hold your breath judging by the appalling treatment of petitioners, and highly-paid lawyers acting for the Quango HS2 Ltd. A prime example being the main man, completely misunderstanding how the petitioners feel, and not appearing to care, only being concerned to get the whole inconvenient process over as soon as possible. So much for democracy, May/Grayling should hang their heads in shame, they know everything and haven’t even bothered to examine the whole process, despite of or maybe because they know that with 15% public support (that much?) it would not pass examination. If HS2 Ltd. were a plc, any of the directors in charge of this farce, would be laughed out of court, and fired.